GATINEAU – Gavin Schmitt of Saskatoon scored 20 points to lead Canada to a 25-18, 25-23, 25-14 victory over the Dominican Republic on Wednesday and a berth in the quarterfinals at the Pan Am Cup men’s volleyball tournament.

The Canadians conclude the round robin at 2-0 for first place in Pool B. Brazil and the U.S., first in Group A and C respectively get byes to the semis because they had the best points for and against ratio among the first place teams.

Canada joins the three second place teams in the quarterfinals and face Mexico Thursday night at 8 p.m. at the Centre Robert-Guertin in Gatineau. The other quarter pits Argentina against Puerto Rico.

‘’There are areas we showed improvement especially our serving which was very good tonight,’’ said Canada’s head coach Glenn Hoag. ‘’I think it’s good for us to play another match. Mexico is a young team that can play really well.’’

Canada’s team captain Fred Winters of Victoria says there is a lot of room for improvement.

‘’We just have to keep working,’’ he said. ‘’I know we can be better.’’

John Gordon Perrin of Creston, B.C., added eight points for the victors while Justin Duff of Winnipeg and Adam Kaminski of Chatham, Ont., added six apiece.

‘’The team you saw in the first and second set, that was my real team,’’ said the Dominican’s head coach Jacinto Campechano. ‘’Overall it was a good match for our guys but we lacked concentration in the third set.’’

‘’Canada was really tough against the block,’’ added Dominican Republic’s captain Tolinson Aquino. ‘’It was a good experience.’’

The US finishes first in group C with a 3-0 record and get a bye to the semis because they are assured of having at least the best two point for and against ratios among the first place group finishers. Argentina drops to 2-1 and is headed to the quarterfinals as a second place finisher.

‘’Argentina has played great defence at this tournament and we knew we had to be at our best today,’’ said U.S. head coach Gordon Mayforth. ‘’I was aware of the points situation and we worked our players hard. We really wanted that day off tomorrow.’’

‘’We got some great experience in those first three matches,’’ added US captain Robert Tarr, who led his team with 14 points. ‘’Argentina was a big challenge for us and that kind of match will really help us.’’

William Price added 12 points for the Americans.

Ivan Castellani led Argentina with nine points while Nicolas Mendez had eight.

‘’This was a great way for us to prepare for the world junior championships,’’ said Argentina’s head coach Juan Manuel Cichello. ‘’The U.S., have an incredible defensive-blocking system and we were nervous against that. It’s a learning process.’’

‘’They are a hard team to play against,’’ added Argentina’s captain Juan Ignacio Finoli. ‘’We’ve taken this as a great opportunity.’’

With the victory Brazil finishes first in Group A with a 2-0 record. They must wait the results of the other two matches later this evening to find out whether they head to the quarterfinals or get a bye to the semis. Meanwhile Venezuela finishes at 0-2 and heads to the consolation round while Mexico (1-1) advances to the quarterfinals.

‘’We improved our rhythm in this second match,’’ said Brazil’s head coach Flavio Marinho. ‘’We played with more cohesion than against Mexico. Our goal is to get better and we are happy with the result.’’

‘’Venezuela served well in the first set but I think they got a little discouraged when they didn’t win it,’’ said Brazil’s captain Anderson Rodrigues.

Kevin Pinerua and Maximo Montoya scored 10 points each for the Venezuelans.

‘’Brazil is very experienced and we are just a bunch of kids,’’ said Venezuela’s head coach Idolo Herrera. ‘’We tried hard in the first set then lacked concentration and made too many mistakes.’’

‘’This tournament is a great opportunity for us,’’ said Pinerua. ‘’We’ve come here to learn.’’

Group C Panama vs Bahamas

Panama earns first victory at Pan Am Cup

GATINEAU – Ricardo Brown scored 14 points Wednesday to lead Panama to its first victory at the Pan Am Cup men’s volleyball tournament.

The Panamanians improved to 1-2 with a 19-25, 25-23, 25-22, 25-18 victory over the Bahamas which is making its debut at this tournament. The Bahamas concludes the round robin at 0-3 but did win its first set of the tournament.

‘’I was surprised with how we did not play well at the beginning,’’ said Panama’s head coach Sergio Balletas. ‘’After the first set, we seem to get back into our game.’’

‘’The Bahamas showed a lot of variety in its game and that took us a bit off guard at the start,’’ added Brown, Panama’s captain.

Domingo Avila and Edward Diaz added 12 points apiece for Panama.

The top scorers for the Bahamas were Renaldo Knowles with 15 and Shedrick Forbes with 14.

‘’We lost focus and you can’t do that at this level,’’ said Bahamas’ head coach Raymond Wilson. ‘’We gave our opponent confidence and put ourselves in a hole.’’